Leadership

When Does True Learning Happen?

Imagine that you are a piano virtuoso and are  invited to play  in a series of live concerts all through summer in a different country. So, what do you do? You practice your part diligently and are excited and ready to perform your piece. Due to some reason, you have not been able to practice with the entire orchestra, but that doesn’t matter much as the orchestra and yourself are professionals and know your entry’s exits and more importantly, the conductor of the orchestra can take care of that. So, you go on stage all prepared and the orchestra starts… And […]

Entrepreneurship

What do Great Entrepreneurs do?

I was reading Seth’s new book – “What to do when its your turn [and its always your turn] and came across the section, where he writes – Great work is the result of seeking out tension and not avoiding it.. This got me thinking and I came to a slightly different realization than the one that Seth was alluding to in his book. I believe that this is exactly what entrepreneurship is all about. As entrepreneurs, we seek out tense situations and find creative ways to resolve the tension and make money in the process. I believe what separates […]

Ideas

First Step in Solving any Problem – A lesson delivered by Mulla Nasruddin

  Let me tell you one of the many inimitable stories of Mulla Nasruddin.. A man had fallen between the rails in an underground station and people were crowding around, all trying to get him to safety before the train came and crushed him. They were shouting “Give me your hand! Give me your hand!” But the man would not reach up. It so happened that Mulla Nasruddin was around there as well, watching from among the crowd. Seeing this, he elbowed his way to through the crowd and leant over to the man. “Friend,” he said, “what is your […]

Leadership, transformation

Personal Focus in a Word for 2015

I read on Mitch Joel’s blog about the concept of 3 words in a year that Chris Brogan started and Mitch and others have made into a tradition. I tried this out last year and decided to go with a single word instead of three – “Transformation”. I must say that this helped me a lot by being my compass in everything that i did and I grew more than I had ever did. You can find my post at the start of the year and my self-appraisal at the end of the year. So, it is time to pick […]

Customer Engagement

What I Learnt About Engagement From My Son and His Friends

We had planned a small new year eve party at our home yesterday. We had invited a few of my 10 year old son’s friends and our neighbors to the party. The plan was simple – Play some games, eat dinner and watch a movie to ring in the new year. The kids came in on time and we started off by engaging them all in a few games – getting them to dance, compete against one another and in general have fun. It was all good until it was not so good. As long as we adults were totally […]